The sunset atop Mt. Phillips is one of many breathtaking sights at Philmont Scout Ranch, a national Boy Scout base in the desert mountains near Cimarron, N.M.

Scouts from troop 53 sit atop the Tooth of Time during their early-July trek.

It’s the wettest you’ll ever be and the dustiest you’ll ever be. The most tired and the most fulfilled. The most you’ll appreciate the outdoors, the most you’ll crave the comforts of home.

It’s the sorest, and proudest, you’ll ever see a group of fathers.

“Watching the kids from beginning to end, they all seem to grow a little bit,” said Mitch Yulich, scoutmaster of Lawrence’s Troop 53, of his experience at Philmont Scout Ranch. “At first they’re all real silly, but there’s a whole different face on them when they get off the trail.”

Philmont, located in the desert mountains near Cimarron, N.M., is a national Boy Scouts of America base. It entertains roughly 20,000 Boy Scouts and Venture Scouts each summer and has become a scouting mecca since it opened in 1938.

“It really hasn’t changed all that much,” said Yulich, who returned July 17 from his fifth Philmont trek. “Some of the camps do different things than they used to. Other than that, it really hasn’t changed at all.”

The base offers activities from rock climbing to tomahawk throwing to horseback riding, among dozens more. Sounds fun, right? But there’s one big catch: All those programs are at different corners of the 140,000-acre ranch. That’s where the hiking – along with the exhaustion and soreness – comes in.

Scout motto: Be prepared

The requisite health form advises: “A Philmont trek is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. Each person will carry a 35- to 50-pound pack while hiking five to 12 miles per day in an isolated mountain wilderness, ranging from 6,500 to 12,500 feet in elevation. Climatic conditions include temperatures from 30 to 90 degrees, low humidity and frequent, sometimes severe, afternoon thunderstorms.”

Translation: Be ready for anything. But don’t overpack.

Venture Crew 2052, an all-girl group from Lawrence, did several practice hikes and had an inspection two days before leaving to make sure all the necessary, and none of the unnecessary, gear was stowed away.

“We have stoves and fuel bottles, tents, a first aid kit,” crew adviser Audrey Taylor said, “all the basic stuff.”

The girls are putting the wraps on their Philmont trek. They left July 25 and are scheduled to return to Lawrence by train Thursday.

“Some of them are just turning 14,” Taylor said before leaving. “They’re well prepared as far as hiking and camping, but there’s some nervousness.”

The crew is no stranger to the outdoors. It camped in the Northern Minnesota boundary waters during the frigid winter months and had been preparing for Philmont since September.

“They’re an energetic group of girls,” Taylor said.

Joey Cunningham, a scout in Troop 53, said the Philmont staff helped him take unnecessary weight off his pack.

“I was pretty well prepared,” he said.

Hiking the backcountry

Philmont crews spend their first and last nights in base camp. The interim 10 nights are spent in the backcountry, and crews hike anywhere from 50 to more than 100 miles during that time.

Nearly all the pre-planned itineraries go over one of the ranch’s big three peaks: Mt. Baldy, Mt. Phillips or the Tooth of Time. Some of the more strenuous treks hit all three.

“The Tooth of Time scared me to death because I’m not too crazy about heights,” said Doug Stremel, a Troop 53 assistant scoutmaster. “Everyone else was running up the side, so I decided I better just suck it up.”

The Tooth is Philmont’s most recognized landmark because of its cragged, skyward climb and its visibility from base camp. Baldy is the highest peak on the ranch, but there is nowhere to camp at the summit. The Phillips summit is Philmont’s highest campsite.

“Climbing up Phillips was difficult and hard and grueling,” Stremel said. “You’re so interested in getting up, then you turn around and see this big giant vista. That was pretty amazing.”

Cunningham agreed the view from Phillips was “awesome,” but his favorite campsite was Lower Sawmill, nestled in between two mountains.

“Great Frisbee field,” Cunningham explained.

The best programs in the backcountry, he said, were shooting .30-06 rifles and team-building exercises, pastimes not offered at typical summer camps.

“The activities are so different,” Cunningham said. “It’s just a totally different experience.”

For all but the saltiest of Philmont veterans, the planned programs take a back seat to more survivalist enterprises, like finding water, picking up food and making sure you know where you are.

“You’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other,” Yulich said, “and you’ll be fine.”

‘Blisters, bumps and bruises’

The spirit and scenery have inspired songs, poems and countless return trips.

“We try to go every year,” Yulich said of Troop 53, “but it’s getting harder and harder to get in.”‘

This year’s trek was Yulich’s first since 2002 and Stremel’s first ever.

“Physically, it wasn’t as demanding as I thought it might be,” Stremel said. “But the 12 days, day after day after day, that was the hardest part.”

The hardest part for Cunningham?

“Being away from my own bed.”

Yulich said his crew got stronger as the days went on.

“They came through fine other than blisters, bumps and bruises,” Yulich said. “We came through pretty unscathed.”

Unscathed physically, but the emotional change was evident.

“When they get back to base camp, everybody’s holding their chests out a little farther,” Yulich said. “They look at the guys just arriving on buses and kind of smirk.”

– Journal-World sports writer William Cross is an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 50 in Kansas City, Mo. He participated in a Philmont trek earlier this summer. He can be reached at 832-7185.